One of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. A Chinese delegation unexpectedly cut short a trip to Vietnam after tempers flared during a closed-door discussion on disputed territories in the region.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy was lauded in a report. The idea behind the agency is that it could fill gaps, such as for solar companies that are often more focused on deploying today’s photovoltaic technology rather than searching for novel materials that could vastly improve the yield of solar cells a decade from now.

Water and sediment gush out of a pipe in a project to restore the beaches near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Much of the funding came from fines paid by BP from the devastating 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.